


First Love

by queen_egotist



Series: Symphony Stories [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, M/M, SouMako Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-21 16:20:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2474600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_egotist/pseuds/queen_egotist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten years ago, Tachibana Makoto was pure. Now, romance is not just his thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbeta'ed. [It's 2am here and I need to sleep. I'm seeing swirling already.]  
>  **SouMako Week Day 2 - AU / _Crossover_ [late post]**  
>  Based on episodes 1-2 of "Sekaiichi Hatsukoi." ♥
> 
> Enjoy! *yawns*

Makoto entered the library as usual, smiling as he scanned though the titles of the books. He found the book he was looking for, but as he reached for it, another hand came in contact with him. Makoto was surprised, it was none other than Shinohara-sempai, his crush, whom he watched every day from afar.

“Shi-Shinohara-senpai?” Makoto stuttered. He tried his best to contain all his feelings, but he failed. “I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you,” he thought. He just looked up to the older man and blushed.

“How do you know my name?” asked Shinohara.

“Huh?” the brunette cannot utter any comprehensive word. “I’m in love with you.”

The older man just smiled back and made his hair scruffy. His blush became a deeper tinge of pink.

* * *

  
That was ten years ago, when Makoto was so naïve and pure. Right now, at the age of 25, he was just became a jaded adult. He cannot believe what just happened. He thought all this time that he was going to be assigned in the literary department. It was even made clear during the interview that he will be assigned in that department. So why on earth is he following this woman who just told her that he was going to be in the shoujo manga department? He quit his previous job because he wanted to pursue this career on his own, without any ties from his family.

“How unlucky,” he thought as he entered the elevator. “Isn’t being a shojo manga editor a dead-end job for male editors?” he asked the woman

“It’s not true. This department is dominated by male editors and for more than a year now, they’ve done a spectacular job. The new editor-in-chief really improved everything from trash with chart-topping sales and he even received an award from the CEO,” narrated the girl. “All editors are handsome. Most of the female population here have their eyes on them.”

Makoto just smiled and nodded curtly, following the path the girl was taking as she talked more. She stopped and looked petrified at what she saw and suddenly ran off wishing him good luck. Makoto wondered and just bowed at the entrance, when he looked up, he saw something like a horror movie and it terrified him. “Why on earth are there dead bodied here?”

He approached a man with purplish hair and shook him, but the instead of waking up, the man fell on his seat. A few seconds later, the man trembled and tried to open his eyes calling out, “Oi, Yamazaki-san, the newbie is here! Yamazaki-san!”

“Shut up! I heard you the first time!” yelled the man at the end of the desk, removing the magazine covering his face. “Tell me your name newbie.”

“I’m Tachibana Makoto, please take care of me,” he told the name.

The said editor-in-chief wore his glasses, “Ah, Tachibana, I heard someone like that will be coming here.”

“What does that mean?” Makoto reacted mentally.

“I’m too busy, so I couldn’t be in the interview. So, what department have you worked on before? Teen Magazine? Adult Section?”

“Sorry, but previously I was a literary editor,” answered Makoto, contemplating not to judge people with his first impression as his new boss looked ragged and trashy.

“What?” said Yamazaki, “You mean to tell me that you haven’t worked on any magazine before?”

Makoto nodded, hiding his clenched fist behind him.

“Tsk, useless,” Yamazaki uttered plainly.

The green-eyed man just smiled back at his boss, even though deep inside he was really pissed off at him and wanted him to be thrown out of the window.

Yamazaki stood up, “I’ll be meeting a mangaka right now, accompany me, Tachibana.” Makoto nodded and just followed the man.

When they reached the designated room for their meeting, Makoto just sat on a chair beside Yamazaki. The older man introduced the female mangaka to Makoto. Few minutes had passed and Makoto learned a lot from their conversation. However, what startled him was that he was pulled suddenly into kiss after he heard Yamazaki asking the editor to redo a particular panel.

“What the hell was that?” asked the surprised green-eyed, almost blending himself with the wall as he hugged it.

“Huh? Work, of course,” Yamazaki answered.

This fucking jerk!

When he got his first break, he chilled in the cafeteria. He heard that the editors in this department were passionate, but never thought they would to extreme length as to model scenes for the authors. It was ridiculous. Makoto sighed and watched his coffee, he just wanted to work in the literature department. He left his company before because his father owned it. Some staff didn’t agree that did well and just talked behind his back. He put up with for three years. In the end, he decided to quit and transfer here in Samezuka Publishing Company. Since his current department was outrageous and his boss just sexually harassed him in his first day, he would just quit this job and find another one. He sank on his seat as he remembered someone from ten years ago. He slapped himself, “Why on earth am I thinking about a person whose face I didn’t even remember?”

Makoto and his new boss, had a conversation, but it didn’t end up really well. It resolved Makoto that he’ll stay in this department for a while and show his damned boss who’s useless.

“Tachibana, have I met you before?” asked his boss out of nowhere.

Makoto shook his head.

* * *

  
The next day, Makoto entered his department and was shocked with the sparkling men who greeted him. Yesterday, all he saw were corpses waiting to be buried. Now, he was blinded with pink colors everywhere. He stepped back and ran, grabbing an unknown stuff. He asked him questions. After all the explanations, he came back, the sparkling men were waiting for him. They introduced themselves as Nitori, Matsuoka and Ryugazaki. They thought him the basics and Makoto appreciated their efforts.

“I can’t help but feeling that I met you before,” told Yamazaki, patting and messing up his hair.

“Maybe we were neighbors before or we met at the printers,” he retorted.

He then had a talk with Nitori, “Well, back in high school, I read all the books in the library.”

Yamazaki went stiff and just stared at Makoto. “Is there something wrong, Yamazaki-san?”

“It was nothing,” he replied and went back to what he was doing.

* * *

 

Several days had passed, Makoto somehow enjoyed being in this company. He helped Yamazaki on one author who couldn’t keep up with her deadline. It was already morning and he never thought that the morning light can be so destructive. Yamazaki sat beside him and handed him a can of black coffee. He puffed a cigarette right after and Makoto stared at him from the sides.

His boss noticed it right away, “You haven’t changed a bit.”

“Huh?” Makoto didn’t understand.

“I guess you still cannot remember me,” Yamazaki replied.

“I suppose you mentioned it before,” answered Makoto. He was getting flustered over this man. He vowed not to fall for another man ever!

“I’ll just have to force you,” told Yamazaki as he pushed Makoto down the couch and forcibly kissed him, inserting his tongue when he had his chance.

Makoto pushed Yamazaki with all his might, “Stop it! I’m a man, you know!”

“Yeah, I suppose you always think that way,” he retorted, standing up and walking out to the exit. “I thought you’d changed a lot, but you’re just as direct as always.”

“What are you talking about?”

Yamazaki looked back, “You said that you loved me.”

“What?”

The editor-in-chief scratched his nape, “So what? You rejected me and now you’re pretending you don’t’ even remember?”

“What?”

Yamazaki looked at his watch, “The galley should be open soon, so I’m dropping by. Try to remember while I’m gone. ”

“What the hell are you saying?” Makoto yelled at his boss.

Yamazaki stopped and said, “Back in my senior year in high school, my parents divorced. So, I changed my name. It was Shinohara before, Shinohara Sousuke.”

“Shinohara,” Makoto tried to remember. Memories from ten years ago flashed, including his failed relationship with his first love. “Shinohara-senpai!”

Makoto ran to the elevator, “SHINOHARA! No, Yamazaki! Stop right there!” Why on earth does he have to become my boss? “You should apologize for what you did!”

“I guess you remembered, but why do I have to apologize? You’re the one who said you love me and then you disappeared the next day,” replied his new boss.

“Huh? You’re the one who laughed at my feelings!” exclaimed Makoto.

“I don’t remember that,” Yamazaki sighed. “So, the mystery’s solved,” he entered the elevator. “So that means I’m free to seduce you all over again.”

“Huh?”

“No matter who I was with, I could never forget you,” the older man uttered. “So, I’m going to make you say you love me again! Just you wait!”

“Are you kidding me?” Makoto lunged forward, but faced the door instead. This can’t be happening. He thought Shino-, no Yamazaki just toyed with him. Does that mean he still loved him? Hell no! He is not going to fall for same guy twice. “So he thinks he’s going to make me say ‘I love you’? Over my cold, dead body!”

* * *

  
It was the weekend. Makoto thanked the movers who assisted him to transfer all his stuff to his new apartment. He was so busy and couldn’t do it during the weekdays. He went out and saw someone unexpected. “Why are you here,” he asked a familiar tall man with teal-eyes.

“I live here,” he answered. “Oh, I get it. You came to confess your love for me. You sure changed you mind quick. I’m fine with that.”

“What are you talking about. That’s outrageous! Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he sauntered inside quickly, shutting the door behind me. “Why does he have to become my neighbor? This is not happening!”

He picked up a magazine as he scanned through different ads for rent. He didn’t want to believe that Yamazaki was making his heart race. He didn’t want to admit that what’s his feeling was love. There would be no circumstance that what he felt for Yamazaki now was love. No way!

**Author's Note:**

> I'll recheck any errors when I wake up later. XD


End file.
